Improvement in toy pistols



A UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

SIMON TOMLINSON, OF PLAINVILLE, CONNECTICUT..

IMPROVEMENT IN TOY PISTOLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 157,246, dated November 24, 1874; application filed April 22, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIMON ToMLINsoN, ofl

Plainville, county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Toy Pistols, for exploding torpedoes and for throwing small projectiles, which I term Tomlinsons '.Eorpedo-Pistol,7 and of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of the peculiar construction, arrangement, and combination of devices, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures l and 2 are vertical and longitudinal sections of a toy pistol which embodies my invention, and Fig. 3 is a top view ofthe same.

In Fig. l the parts are represented as cocked, and in Fig. 2 as uncooked. j

Previous to my invention pistols have been used for throwing projectiles, including torpedoes 5 but, so far as l know, the projectile or torpedo has been placed close to the piston or plunger, so as to move with it and be thrown from the pistol, and afterward exploded by striking against some object.

Instead of placing the torpedo a near the piston or plunger b, I place it just within the barrel A, and some little distance from the plunger b, as shown in Fig. l. When the plunger is released, it moves so far before reaching the torpedo that the concussion explodes it, thereby causing a loud report-much louder than would be made by the same torpedo if exploded after leaving the barrel-and the flre and smoke issuing from the barrel make the toy more attractive.

In order to insure the explosion of the torpedo within the barrel, it is essential that the plungershall be shot forward with great rapidity, and therefore I employ a spring of greater strength than those generally found in toy pistols, and arrange it and its connection in the following novel manner, to wit: I form the spring c of wire by coilin g it in two or more coils, and with two arms, d d, as shown in the drawings. The case or shell B is made in halves, and secured together in any proper manner. Both arms of the spring c have a small coil at their ends, and one arm d is secured to the case B by a rivet through the coil at the end ofthe arm, so as to form a joint or hinge. The plunger b is attached to a Wire, which extends longitudinally with the barrel A, and is bent outward to form the cock h. The opposite arm d of the spring c is jointed to the angle of the wire, to which the plunger b and cock h areattached. Upon the upper side of the stock is a longitudinal slot, t', Fig. 3, at the rear of which is a notch, k, Figs. l and 2. The cock h projects up through this slot i, and upon its two sides are lugs m m,

which engage in the notch Vk and retain the parts cocked, as shown in Fig. 1.

In this position the rear coil ofthe spring c projects through a slot at the under side of the case, and by depressing the coil within the case B the cock h is released, when the spring throws the plunger forward, as before described, and into the position shown in Fig. 2.

By drawing the cock back, the lugs m m again engage within the notch lr, and the coil projects again at the under side, as before described. p

What I claim as my invention isl. In a toy pistol, the spring c, formed, as shown and described, in two or more coils, and provided with the arms d d, one of which is hinged to the case B, and the other to the cock and plunger, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In la toy pistol, the case B, provided with a slot at its lower edge, in combination with the spring c, arranged as described, so that when the parts are cocked one coil of the spring projects through the slot and answers for a trigger, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

SIMON TOMLINSON.

Witnesses:

J AMEs .SHEPARD, H. A. MITCHELL. 

